Burning Bright
by Sailor Earth Selestina118
Summary: Sylar needed to add one more power to his collection before he could take on the company. Is this one that he is willing to take? R/R! Enjoy!


**Title:** Burning Bright**  
Author:** Selestina118**  
Pairings:** Sylar/OC**  
Raiting:** Mature-ish**  
Warnings: **Violence, gore, character death**  
Spoilers: **None, but it takes place after Powerless**  
Word Count:** 1,568**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Gabriel "Sylar" Gray, Heroes, Post-It, or "The Tiger" by William Blake. Please don't sue me! :D Thanks.**  
Prompt: **Sylar finds a name on the list and he's very interested in getting the ability. When Sylar goes to kill the victim, it ends up being his high school crush (who is still looking good by the way) ... What happens next? If you pick this plot, put in to details Sylar's reaction to the unexpected victim.**  
Author's Notes:** This was for the fic challenge posted by lacrymosastar on the sylargabriel livejournal community. This was my favorite of the two prompts to write since I had the whole epic battle in my mind. I hope it translated well. XD

Burning Bright

Sylar walked into the abandoned apartment. He was surprised that no one had filled it's vacancy since he had left and the Company had cleaned it out.

He didn't expect to find anything of his old life, but it was his last place to look. Maybe he shouldn't have killed the doctor all those months ago. The many shelves that held all of his books were completely barren and the mirror that held the passage to his workspace was left ajar.

Sylar slowly walked to the door and into the back room with trepidation. It seemed like forever since the days when he would lock himself in there at a time, figuring out what his next move and who his next victim would be. He clicked on the overhead light that cast a soft orange glow on the woodwork and empty shelves. There was nothing there but cobwebs, but he walked around looking from the ceiling to the floorboards for some sign of where to go next.

Finally, he saw it. The one piece of information that he was looking for. In a dusty corner, untouched by the light, a crumpled Post-It lay forgotten. Sylar kneeled down and slowly picked up the piece of paper. He hated himself for what he would have to do, but he was out for blood against the Company.

* * *

Sylar walked quickly through the subway station. He didn't want to be here - a dirty, dank, and dare he say it, dangerous place. Unfortunately, it was one of the few places left that had a few old phone booths with a directory attached to it. Sylar carefully pulled out of his pocket the Post-It that he had collected from his old apartment earlier and searched the phone book for the address that was listed. After he found it, he quickly dialed.

The phone rang seemingly forever until an answering machine started playing. He hung up the phone for he had the information he needed. Sylar looked at his surroundings with a scowl as he exited the subway station melting into the darkness. He hoped that he was wrong in his assumption.

* * *

Anne sat at her laptop just staring at the monitor willing the words to come. She had a review due to the paper by 10:00 pm and it was already quarter after nine. She didn't know how to put into words that the movie that she had just seen merely two hours ago was a piece of useless drivel that no one could be paid to see. She closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck. Maybe if she stayed like that long enough it would write itself?

Anne left the computer at her table and strolled over to the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of coffee. A few sips in she thought she could sense someone behind her. In fact, she knew that someone was there. Both stood there for what seemed like an eternity not moving, not speaking, just knowing and not knowing at the same time. Anne was the first to speak.

"What do you want?"

Ever so coolly the voice replied to her, "What do you think?" He hoped that he was wrong. He hoped that this wasn't the same person, but as every minute passed he was more and more certain. "Come now, you can't just stand there forever. What's the fun in that?" Sylar mocked her.

"Oh, really!?" Anne made a daring move and not only doused Sylar with her hot coffee, but grabbed one of her larger knives as she turned and lunged at him. Wiping the coffee from his eyes, Sylar used his telekinesis and deflected the knife into one of the cabinets.

"Now, that was silly," Sylar said as he watched her grow horrified. She made a bolt into her living room. He wasn't human. Gracefully she jumped onto the ledge between the kitchen and the den. Propelling herself forward she transformed into a spider monkey. She wasn't so human herself.

Sylar just tilted his head and collected the remaining kitchen knives and the one that had been previously deflected with telekinesis and began firing one by one at Anne. Each she dodged by jumping and using the natural acrobatic nature of her form. The last knife gave a twang as it lodged itself into the white wall behind her, nearly missing her tail. Mid-jump Anne transformed into a red tailed hawk. She flew high to the ceiling of the living room and attempted to swoop down on Sylar. At one point she caught his hand with one of her talons.

"You really must stop this useless attempt to evade me. It will not work," Sylar said as he moved back into the kitchen. For a moment Anne saw this as a chance to rest her wings before the next onslaught of fighting would begin. Carefully and quickly Anne attempted to make a sweep of her house. She did not want that man out of her sights. What she did not realize however was that Sylar was waiting for _her_. As she came up from the back to his left he released into her a large ice shard created by his cryokinesis power.

With a shriek she was pinned to a cabinet by a wing. Blood lightly dribbled down the white surface and stained the countertop beneath.

"Now, you know you cannot sneak up on me," he gave a sarcastic smile. "You know, I think I'll enjoy your power." With that he ripped her from the cabinet without taking the ice shard out. As soon as she was free from being pinned she transformed into a field mouse and attempted to scurry away from this torturer. "Oh no, you are not getting away from me this time," Sylar said as he stopped and pulled her towards him with his telekinesis.

With a firm grip he held her up to the refrigerator. Anne used one last attempt to get free. She transformed into a white tiger. Anne wasn't sure why she did it. Maybe it was a moment of clarity? It seemed more like insanity at the time. With her claws unsheathed she dug into his back and scratched down through his coat. Her left arm did not have the power that her right held, but it still stung Sylar. His patience began to grow thin as he hissed and moved into Anne. He could feel her hot breath panting onto his face.

"Don't fight me on this, Anne!" he said with a growl. Her eyes grew wide. He did know her. But how? From where? She had never met him before. "Oh, Anne, I am surprised you do not remember," he said as he flung her hard down onto the tile floor. He stood before her predator to prey. "Of course, you never did pay much attention to meek, quiet, simple, barely visible Gabriel Gray, did you?" A look of recognition passed through her features as she slowly took her human form again. "Always the little door-mat - that is what I was to you. I would bend to your every whim because you were the little goddess that haunted my dreams. I would sit in the back of our calculus class and just watch as you finished every problem so much faster than everyone else. Well, everyone but me that is," he said with a smirk. "You know they always tell you to be wary of and nice to the quiet kids. Too bad, Anne." He just looked at her with his dark eyes, head tilted and grinning wide.

"Wh-what do you want, Gabriel?" she said trying to inch away from him, but her wounded arm prevented her. Sylar closed in on her. He didn't say anything, only merely gave her a look of "You know".

Kneeling down, Sylar pinned her arms to the floor with his own knees. As Anne felt the telekinetic incision begin to open up her skull she rang out in protest. "No!"s and "Gabriel . . . Please!" poured from her ruby lips which fell on deaf ears. Her begging fell silent as the cut was complete. Sylar took what he came for - her beautiful power. With a grimace Sylar washed the blood from his hands. He could already begin to feel her power reshaping him as he looked onto the beautifully mutilated body before him.

As he was about to leave the house, he took notice of Anne's laptop still open to her unfinished movie review in an e-mail. With a brow raise, Sylar iced over his hands and began typing and hit send. That would be a nice little present for whomever she was writing to.

Sylar stalked out into the darkness of the night - a smug look on his face and his hand began changing into the paw of a white tiger. Claws formed and black stripes painted themselves over newly growing white fur.

"Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright . . ."

* * *

Anne's review had been received barely on time for that morning's paper. Her editor was chatting away on the phone barking orders to incompetent employees as he reviewed her article. When he got to the bottom he dropped the phone in shock. In big red letters this message blared at him:

"Anne was killed by the one who loved her."


End file.
